Sign up or log in to save this to your schedule and see who's attending!

Professor Graham Smith is a prominent Māori educationalist and advocate who has been at the forefront of alternative Māori initiatives in the education field and beyond. His academic background is within the disciplines of Education, Social Anthropology and Cultural and Policy Studies. More specifically, his academic work has centred on developing theoretically informed transformative strategies related to intervening in Māori cultural, political, social, educational and economic crises.Professor Smith has been an influential contributor to the development of what he has described in his writings as the ‘twenty-five year Maori educational revolution, 1982 – 2007’. This period saw the development of a range of alternative educational strategies by Maori communities, beginning with Te Kohanga Reo (Maori Language pre-school initiative), through the Maori Immersion elementary school development (Kura Kaupapa Maori), Maori Secondary Schools (Whare Kura) and the emerging tertiary option of Wananga. He has had a ‘hands-on’ approach with respect to his participation and commitment with these initiatives. Professor Smith was the foundation chairperson of the Council for Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi: indigenous-university in Whakatāne.